Life Without You
by ShellmyBelle
Summary: Something's happened at Seattle Grace that will change everything.
1. Chapter 1

**Life Without You**

**_A/N This is my first attempt at Grey's / Bones fiction so hopefully this will be decent. Let me know what you think of it! _**

_Major events impact on everyone. Everything changes, nothing is unaffected. In a perfect world we wouldn't need to overcome anything, challenges wouldn't faze us and we certainly wouldn't be affected by things that have almost nothing to do with us. Sometimes things happen that change everything and can't be simply avoided or brushed off. They change you; possibly for the better, maybe for the worse – but you'll be different. It will never be the same again._

Derek's face fell as he placed the receiver back into the cradle, "Meredith, I have to go into work."

"Unfortunately we both have to, I'll only be about fifteen minutes," she replied brushing her hair before clipping it back.

"No, they need me now. All the attendings have been called in early," he explained to her, walking round the bed to where she was perched.

"Oh, really? Why?" she asked as curiosity took over her mind.

"I don't think I can say – it's not my place. You'll find out later, I'm sure," he answered her, kissing quickly to prevent her asking more questions. He wanted to answer them, keeping things from her irritated him and he knew she'd always be able to get the information she wanted eventually. He could never say no to Meredith.

"Don't think that gets you off the hook! You better tell me later," she laughed after his disappearing figure, before turning back to the mirror and pondering on the reasons for Derek's sudden rushing off.

"Cristina!" Meredith called down the corridor, speeding up her walk drastically, "Something is going on."

"Something's always going on, why do you care this time?" she raised her eyebrows, allowing her eyes to scan the area around where they were stood for signs of anything suspicious. Nothing out of the ordinary appeared to be happening – people were crying, surgeons were walking round, interns were running after them; all was well in Seattle Grace or at least it appeared to be.

Pulling her to one side, Meredith whispered, "The strangest thing happened this morning. All the attendings got called in early about something Derek was being really secretive about. He was saying how it wasn't his place to comment and that we'd find out soon enough."

Dismissing her immediately, Cristina joked, "He's probably just having an affair."

"Seriously not funny," Meredith sternly replied.

"You have to admit that it is sort of-" Cristina trailed off after seeing the face of her colleague, before continuing, "maybe someone died?"

"People die every day, we work in a hospital – this is a place where you actually expect death to occur."

"But maybe it wasn't just any old patient…" Cristina began, before being pushed into the closest exam room by Meredith, "What the hell?"

"Shush, Derek and the Chief are coming," Meredith replied placing her hand over Cristina's mouth as they both crouched under the level of the window.

"It's just shocking, I never thought anything like this would happen here," Richard shook his head in amazement.

"What makes it worse is that it's one of us – not just some stranger who's wandered in from the streets. It was one of the family," Derek continued with the same amazed and devastated tone Meredith and Cristina had heard the Chief using just moments later.

Suddenly a new voice was brought into the conversation, one they'd never heard, "Chief Webber you'll need to let the staff know. We need to be certain they're going to co-operate with the investigation."

"Right away Agent Booth, whatever you think is the best step forward," Richard duly replied.

"I need to check Meredith's alright- I left pretty abruptly this morning and you know what she's like if she's annoyed at you," Derek explained, before turning and heading off down the corridor.

"I'll page them all the staff to the conference room. Feel free to call me if either you or Dr. Brennan needs anything," the Chief started, before following the way Derek had just gone.

"Agent Booth?" Cristina repeated, "That means the FBI's involved – this is some serious stuff."

"Well, I'm positive we're about to discover what's been going on…"

_**A/N Chapter 1 is sorted then - bit of a cliffhanger there. Please comment about what you think of it! Thank you**_


	2. Chapter 2

**_Sorry this has taken so long! Life has been pretty hectic of late... Thank you all for your lovely comments - glad you enjoyed the first part :)_**

"Sit down residents, come on quickly!" Richard called to the staff crammed into the Resident's locker room.

"Cristina," Meredith nudged the doctor next to her, "Cristina…"

Turning her head sharply, clearly irritated at being disturbed, she hissed, "What? I'd quite like to hear this you know."

"It's just… where's April? I can't see her anywhere," Meredith explained, scanning the room.

"She'll be somewhere, stop worrying," Cristina replied, placing her hand over Meredith's mouth to silence her.

"As I'm sure you've all noticed something suspicious seems to be going on this morning. It saddens me greatly to tell you that something has happened, something deeply upsetting and unsettling. Our friend and colleague…"

"Sorry!" April exclaimed, running into the room and quickly perching next to Meredith, who had relief etched over her face.

"Doctor Kepner, nice of you to join us this morning," the Chief began, raising an eyebrow, "Now, as I was explaining before Dr. Kepner's sudden entrance, it saddens me deeply to tell you all that one of our friends and colleagues has been murdered. Early this morning the body of Lexie Grey was found in the on-call room on the third floor."

Gasps filled the room – April was crying, Cristina was sat shaking her head dumb-struck, Meredith had run over to Derek who had been flanking the chief and Callie was comforting Mark.

"I appreciate that this will affect us all and that today may be difficult to work through. I'd just like to remind you all that we've faced tragedy and we've come out the other side – we're a family and everyone is here to help others. Please, do not be afraid to talk if this has affected you extremely; I'm talking particularly to those who were close to Dr. Grey. I must also notify you all that under further notice you are all suspects in this case and should be prepared to be questioned by Agent Seeley Booth of the FBI or his forensic colleague Dr. Temperance Brennan. I'm certain we will do justice to the memory of Lexie, I'm sure she would have wanted us to continue with our day to day lives to the best of our abilities. The FBI have requested to talk to each of you separately so that they can paint a picture of both last night and this morning, but also of Lexie's life. They have asked to speak to Dr. Grey first, so Meredith when you're ready please head over to the conference room. Good day."

"Derek... I don't want to go," Meredith sobbed, burying her head into her husband's navy scrub top, the material absorbing the tears which were rolling down her face.

"I know, I know," he whispered into her hair, stroking the small of her back in an attempt to calm her.

"Lex – Lexie's dead Derek! I need time to compose my thoughts, to analyse the situation, to think – I just need time!" she wailed, pressing herself closer to Derek. With his arms wrapped around her she was safe, his embrace created a barrier where everything was fine, everybody was happy and Lexie was still alive.

Loosening Meredith's vice-like grip from around his neck, Derek placed his hand on her cheek and softly explained, "You need to do this. Sure, now would be the time to roll out the sentimental crap about how it's what Lexie would want you to do, but I'm not going to. I'm certain Lexie would want you to do this, but you need to do this so that you can begin to process this. Now's the time to think about what your mother would do – and right now, to be honest I think she'd take a deep breath, have drink of water, kiss her husband and then go into that conference room and tell the FBI every single thing they can think of."

Meredith stood rooted to the spot, staring at him and considering what he had just told her before asking, "You don't happen to have a tissue do you? I need to clean my face..."

"No, but I do have a scrub top..." he smiled, "you've already substantially stained it, you may as well finish everything off."

"Sorry," she sniffed, wiping her cheeks with the hem of Derek's top.

"Don't apologise," he replied, pushing her hair behind her right ear and kissing her on the cheek.

Taking a deep breath, she took hold of his hand and whispered into his ear, "Walk me over?"

"Of course."

_**Let me know what you think? And I promise I'll update sooner this time...xxx**_


End file.
